"Malfoy raised his wand quickly and bellowed, 'Serpensortia!' The end of his wand exploded. Harry watched, aghast, as a long black snake shot out of it, fell heavily onto the floor between them and raised itself, ready to strike."

The Snake Summons Spell, along with the Bird-Conjuring Charm, are substantially simpler to perform than most other forms of conjuration. The reasoning behind this is unknown, but is one of the many topics of research undertaken by the Department of Mysteries.[2]

It is possible that this spell or a variant of it can also be used to transform objects into snakes. Lord Voldemort transformed a fiery rope into a serpent in 1996, and Severus Snape did the same two years later. Both serpents were described as black, matching the Serpensortia snake´s colour.